The time for spring cleaning may be far behind us but there’s another occasion this week that calls for a closer look at clutter: National Simplify Your Life Week!
Mess is a part of all of our worlds: From kids’ toys in the living room to piles of Post-It notes on our desks at work, we all can get a little lost in the chaos of our everyday lives. But, now more than ever, it’s important to get organized and take control of the clutter—both at home and at work. The disruptions of the last few years have presented more than a few challenges to American workers’ mental health, and research has shown that the more put together and cleaned up our environments are—both physically and figuratively!—the less stressed we become.
Here are a few simple tips to take charge, unclutter your life and put your best foot forward:
Make your workspace your own:
No matter where and how you do your work—in a cubicle by yourself, in a warehouse with a team or even at home with family around—the chances are that you have one space that is primarily yours for work. Whether it’s a desk, a locker or even a dining room table, the space should be organized and work-friendly without losing its character. Part ways with the items that aren’t contributing to your work every day and instead bring in some new ones that are more productive but also showcase your personality. For instance, those piles of papers sitting on your desk can be sorted into folders—which you can jazz up in all of your favorite colors—and, instead of 20 pictures tacked up around your desk simplify to a digital frame that’s neater and can give you a nice distraction when you need it. When your workspace feels like home, it’s more likely that you’ll take good care of it.
Go digital:
It’s easy to get inundated with papers at work, but they can be a major contributor to mess! Notes, phone messages, calendars, client orders, HR paperwork—it all adds up to a big, cluttered headache. So, this National Simplify Your Life Week, scale it down and go digital. Ditch the desk calendar and keep your appointments in your email and on your devices, and track your to-do lists on a cloud-based system instead of scraps of paper.
Spruce up your resume:
Decluttering doesn’t just have to be in reference to your physical space. This is also a good opportunity, especially if you’re job hunting or thinking of getting out there, to rework your personal brand. Take a hard look at your resume and LinkedIn profiles to weed out any outdated or unnecessary information. While recruiters and HR managers should get an accurate picture of you and your experiences, like having too much mess around, extra information on these profiles can be distracting and counter-productive.
The process of simplifying all corners of your life is a great way to assess where you are, where you can make some improvements and then dive right in to make your daily life just a little bit easier—and neater!
